December has already been a busy month. We were in London the first weekend, and in Århus the weekend after that. Lisbeth’s sister Hanne and her boyfriend Kaspar invited us to a Julefrokost, or Christmas lunch.
Hanne and Kaspar live in a cooperative. In this case it’s eight people sharing a house. Each person has a room, and they share the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the common living spaces.
It’s a great house — originally part of a military barracks — and it even has an area for a little workshop. It’s been a cooperative for decades now, and they have a well-defined system for everything from selecting new residents (they do interviews) to shopping (it’s done once a month, and that’s one of the things Hanne loves about living there) to making dinner (each person is responsible for making dinner for everyone once a week.)
We got there on Friday at around 9:00 and sat in the living room with Hanne in front of a fireplace and talked. (Kaspar was at work, but joined us around midnight.) The next day we went for a walk around town.
Living at 55 degrees North gives people a keen appreciation of the sun. When we set out the next day, Kaspar pointed out that, despite the fact that it was noon, the sun was hanging low in the sky. Just look at the shadows.
This also means that the average Dane is very likely to bask in whatever sunlight is available. This often happens without warning. They just stop in a sunny spot, close their eyes, and start smiling. At first I thought they were crazy. Then I tried it. I still think they’re crazy.
After that we walked through a small but fantastic old part of town that had the cutest little houses. Despite their modest sizes, I’m told they’re pretty expensive.
After some coffee and chocolate cake at a cafe, we wandered through the Århus pedestrian/shopping district, where I took these two pictures. The woman in the second picture kindly stopped and waited for me to finish. She had no way of knowing that I’m using an extremely wide lens and that she was practially in the middle of the frame.
Two final (and quite anti-clamatic) pictures. I took these partly to show the contrast between the cozy old houses in the center of town to the newer buildings, and partly because the little flags seem so lonely and helpess against the rest of this building. Hanne told me that she hears that the units in this building are actually very nice, but it sure isn’t fun to look at from the outside.
After our walk, we went back to the house and helped get things ready for the party, which got started around seven. Which brings me to the subject of Julefrokost.
Despite the innocuous name, Christmas lunch is not a tame thing. First, it’s not lunch, second, it should be called “Christmas feast”, and third, Christmas lunches are notorious as occasions of excess — and not just food-wise. Essentially, it starts as a dinner with great food… and a practically mandatory drinking regemen. You’re expected to drink every five or ten minutes — typically shots of snaps – a harsh liquor that often burns your throat on the way down (but, to be perfectly clear, I like very much). Anyway, I’ve been to Christmas lunches for three years now and had both fantastic times and bad times.
It’s completely socially acceptable to get smashed at a Christmas lunch. The average, quiet person sometimes REALLY lets it all hang out at a Christmas lunch. So much so that, I’m told, divorce rates go up a bit in January.
Yes, I’ve seen some pretty surprising behavior at Christmas lunches, but this one was nothing like that. We had a great time, with the minor exception the stereo was surprisingly potent, and there people present who insisted on full volume.
The next day the four of us agreed that is was great party, and no one got too out of control…and that perhaps we’re getting a little too old for these kind of parties.
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